This article was downloaded by: [University of South Carolina ]

On: 18 July 2013, At: 16:14

Publisher: Routledge
Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered
office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Human Resource Development

International
Publication details, including instructions for authors and
subscription information:
http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rhrd20

The relationship between HRM

practices and organizational
commitment of knowledge workers.
Facts obtained from Swiss SMEs
a a b
David Giauque , Fabien Resenterra & Michaël Siggen
a
Institute of Political and International Studies, University of
Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
b
Institute Economy & Tourism, University of Applied Sciences
Western Switzerland, Sierre, Switzerland
Published online: 23 Apr 2010.

To cite this article: David Giauque , Fabien Resenterra & Michal Siggen (2010) The relationship
between HRM practices and organizational commitment of knowledge workers. Facts obtained from
Swiss SMEs, Human Resource Development International, 13:2, 185-205

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13678861003703716

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the
“Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis,
our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to
the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions
and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors,
and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content
should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources
of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims,
proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or
howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising
out of the use of the Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any
substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing,
systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms &
 Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-
and-conditions
Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013
 Human Resource Development International
Vol. 13, No. 2, April 2010, 185–205

The relationship between HRM practices and organizational

commitment of knowledge workers. Facts obtained from Swiss SMEs
David Giauquea*, Fabien Resenterraa and Michaël Siggenb
a
Institute of Political and International Studies, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland;
b
Institute Economy & Tourism, University of Applied Sciences Western Switzerland, Sierre,
Switzerland
Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

(Received 10 October 2009; final version received 3 February 2010)

This paper explores the effects of human resource management (HRM) practices
in Swiss small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs). More specifically, the main
objective of this study is to assess the impacts of HRM practices developed in
Swiss SMEs upon the commitment of knowledge workers. Using data from a
survey of over 198 knowledge workers, this study shows the importance of
looking closer at HRM practices and, furthermore, to really investigate the
impacts of the different HRM practices on employees’ commitment. Results
show, for example, that organizational support, procedural justice and the
reputation of the organization may clearly influence knowledge workers’
commitment, whereas other HRM practices such as involvement in decision-
making, skills management or even the degree of satisfaction with pay do not
have any impact on knowledge workers’ commitment.
Keywords: knowledge workers; commitment; HRM principles and practices;
retention

Like many other countries, Switzerland is in a difficult situation when it comes to

recruiting and retaining a qualified workforce. This is especially damaging because
organizational structures in the workplace become increasingly knowledge-intensive
and involve people, processes and technologies, thus increasing the role of the
knowledge workers (Davenport 2005). This high growth rate of knowledge requires
organizations to develop flexible organizational potential to match changing
environments and maintain organizational competence (Laursen 2005).
Therefore the small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) find themselves obliged to put
forward benefits that will attract qualified employees, inducing them to take an interest
in the company, agree to work there and, even more importantly, pursue a career there.
Retention of staff is not easy for these businesses, which are subject to competition from
both urban centres and from the rest of the world, as the employment base for
knowledge workers is vast and these days has hardly any boundaries.
For Gvaramadze (2008), in these increasingly flexible conditions, human resource
development (HRD) managers try to retain workers by developing strategies that
empower individual employees. It is now widely accepted that human resource

*Corresponding author. Email: David.Giauque@unil.ch

ISSN 1367-8868 print/ISSN 1469-8374 online

Ó 2010 Taylor & Francis
DOI: 10.1080/13678861003703716
http://www.informaworld.com
 186 D. Giauque et al.

management (HRM) can help firms improve organizational behaviour, such as staff
commitment, competency and flexibility, which in turn leads to improved staff
performance. This article therefore takes as its starting point the ‘brain drain’ issue and
aims to better identify those principles of human resources management that are likely
to produce organizational commitment among knowledge workers. In other words,
the idea is to test the relations which may exist between aspects inherent in human
resources management and the organizational commitment of knowledge workers.
According to the scientific literature, commitment may take various forms; it
may correspond to commitment to a trade union (Gordon et al. 1980), to a
particular profession or professional activity (Meyer, Allen, and Smith 1993), to
working teams or team leaders (Becker 1992; Hunt and Morgan 1994), to certain
aims and objectives (Campion and Lord 1982; Locke, Latham, and Erez 1988), or in
respect of personal career development (Hall 1996). However, although some
Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

authors write about it (Meyer and Allen 1997; Ito and Brotheridge 2005; Shore and
Tetrick 1991), it must be recognized that scant attention is paid in scientific literature
to the question of whether it is possible for the tools and practices of human
resources management to generate organizational commitment among employees.
Nevertheless, one may also observe that scientific research dealing specifically with
HRM in SMEs is underdeveloped (Zheng, Morrison, and O’Neill 2006). Moreover,
little is known regarding HRM practices in SMEs. Most studies of HRM in SMEs
have focused on comparing HRM practices in small and large firms (Golhar and
Deshpande 1997; Hornsby and Kuratko 2003). Further, when one can find studies
focusing upon SMEs most of them tended to examine the existence of HRM practices
without examining the impact of the HRM practices in SMEs. Therefore, there is a
lack of scientific investigation regarding the relationship between HRM practices and
behavioural outcomes such as involvement and commitment. This article is a
contribution to fill this gap by examining the impact of HRM practices on employees’
commitment in Swiss SMEs. The main research question of this study reads as follows:
to what extent HRM practices may influence the organizational commitment of
knowledge workers in Swiss SMEs, and which kind of HRM practices may be
considered as having a greater impact on knowledge workers’ commitment?
The remainder of the paper is structured as follows. First we define knowledge
workers through a literature review. Then a conceptual framework of the HRM-
commitment link is developed and hypotheses are proposed. The discussion then
moves to the research method selected for testing the hypotheses, followed by
discussion of the data analysis. The paper concludes by exploring implications of the
key findings and suggesting directions for future research.

Theoretical background
Who are knowledge workers?
In order to fully understand the issues related to the retention of knowledge workers,
it is necessary to define what is meant by ‘knowledge workers’. According to Drucker
(1999), who pioneered research into this subject, knowledge workers are employees
‘who are applying new knowledge every day, when they are not creating it, and who
are involved in or define strategic areas, translating them into plans for practical
action’. These people are relatively few, in Switzerland and worldwide, and are
highly sought-after. Businesses constantly seek to attract them in order to be able
to rely on their services. Knowledge workers are highly-qualified and very
 Human Resource Development International 187

well-educated people, often enjoying a high level of remuneration, and who know
more about their work than anyone else in the organization, including their
managers. For Davenport (2005), knowledge workers are those whose main activity
is the manipulation of knowledge and information. And according to Jon Peirce
(1999), knowledge workers are interested in different questions and have different
motivations in their work from manual workers. In short, by ‘knowledge workers’,
we mean people with high added value, who are employed for their very extensive
knowledge of their work, who are actively involved in strategic areas in their
organization and who play a pivotal role in establishing its competitive position.
Many claims that knowledge has become one of the most highly valued
commodities in modern economic activity. As a result, we are witnessing the emergence
of a knowledge-driven economy, characterized by the expansion of so-called
‘knowledge work’ (Brinkley 2008). Intellectual capital is becoming a major advantage
Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

in the context of the economic competition in which companies are engaged. Indeed,
resource-based approaches consider competences and knowledge as vital strategic
resources for organizations (Hamel and Prahalad 1990). Knowledge-based approaches
give a competitive advantage to organizations which know how to make best use of
knowledge in knowledge management projects (Bück 1999). These representatives of
the strategic management of human resources, whose approach we follow, try to
distinguish the methods of managing and satisfying the intellectual capital of
organizations by developing the loyalty and mobilization of knowledge workers.
Knowledge workers are reputedly representing the vanguard of a new era in
work and employment (Knell 2000). In contrast to traditional employees, Reed
(1996) claims that knowledge workers are autonomous and empowered individuals
who are not dependent on organizational membership. These workers are archetypal
‘free agents’ who follow boundary-less careers outside formal organizations (Pink
2001). However, many knowledge workers continue to function as members of
organizations, and work in hierarchical bureaucracies. The interplay between
knowledge workers and contemporary bureaucracies generates strong competing
tensions (Donnelly 2009), because these workers are subject to a radically different
employment relationship, which provide them with extensive autonomy (Pink 2001).
Instead of being constrained by traditional employment relations, these privileged
workers are free to exercise greater control over the market for their skills (Reed
1996), to operate in networked rather than hierarchical environments and to be able
to determine when and where they work (Knell 2000). They are inclined to negotiate
their organizational commitment according to the opportunities offered them by the
company to which they temporarily belong. They are therefore extremely flexible
and mobile, but this mobility is of little value to companies either financially or in
terms of productivity. The ability of companies to recruit knowledge workers and, in
particular, to develop their mobilization, commitment and a degree of loyalty has
become a real challenge for HR departments. This challenge of retaining the
commitment of knowledge workers is accentuated by the tendency for these workers
to exhibit greater commitment to their occupations than to particular organizations
(Alvesson 2004). Organizations have the duty to provide knowledge workers with
development opportunities to enhance their employability in exchange for high levels
of performance. This is why we consider it important to deal with this issue of
commitment and motivation of knowledge workers.
Secondly, it must – unfortunately – be said that Switzerland has lagged behind other
countries in looking at these factors of mobilization, loyalty and organizational
 188 D. Giauque et al.

commitment. Although its most competitive companies may be considered capable of

facing today’s challenges, one cannot help observing that, until now, there has been
little analysis or exploration of these changes in terms of the mobilization of knowledge
workers in SMEs, and they have apparently never been examined scientifically and in
the context of French-speaking Switzerland. Such kind of research is especially
interesting because Switzerland’s economy is primarily composed of SMEs (99.7%)
and because a significant number of them work in areas requiring highly qualified
employees (biotechnology, computer science, engineering, etc.). Because knowledge
workers are few, the question of their mobilization is of great interest.
At a time when Swiss HR specialists and politicians alike are becoming
concerned that large numbers of Switzerland’s young people are leaving the country
to seek new professional challenges (particularly in countries which specialize in a
workforce with high added-value, such as Canada and the USA), we feel that it is
Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

worthwhile and urgently necessary to identify good organizational and HR practices

which can develop a feeling of organizational commitment among knowledge
workers, and thus slow down this brain-drain.

The link between knowledge workers and organizational commitment

The issue of the organizational commitment of knowledge workers has been the
subject of various investigations. In this context, a very interesting question is
whether knowledge workers are as committed to organizations as those workers
who undertake more routine tasks. Employees undertaking knowledge work were
thought to have low organizational commitment and be more committed to their
occupation or profession (Cook 1996). Other research suggested that professional
commitment may, however, reinforce notions of organizational commitment,
particularly for those who are satisfied in their work (Baugh and Roberts 1994).
Nevertheless, the complexity and ambiguity of knowledge work, coupled with
knowledge workers strong professional orientation, would tend to promote less
identification with the organization and higher levels of intention to quit relative to
routine workers. Some studies suggest that work organization factors are
important influences on the commitment of knowledge workers (Frenkel et al.
1999).
As a result, it has now been shown that the quality of the external and internal
relations of an organization is a critical source of competitive advantage (Leana and
Rousseau 2000). More specifically, in those organizations whose activities are mainly
oriented towards the production, management and valorization of information and
knowledge, and which employ mainly professionals with recognized ‘problem
solving’ skills, the quality of internal organization relations is essential. This allows
for the formation of a long-term employee-employer partnership; the long-term
nature is essential for the development and application of knowledge. Alvesson
(2001) has shown that the higher the organizational commitment of employees, the
better the organization’s performance in the generation and application of
knowledge. Other studies have highlighted the importance of aspects such as
confidence, motivation and commitment for the capacity of businesses to retain their
knowledge workers, by reducing staff turnover and increasing the propensity of these
employees to share and distribute information (Storey 2001). On a more theoretical
level, Hislop (2003) judges that commitment is the concept enabling a link to be
established between employer-employee relations and the sharing of knowledge
 Human Resource Development International 189

within organizations. Other authors have shown that social capital represents a
critical competition factor for organizations, as it gives them a basis for the creation
and sharing of knowledge. This social capital is based specifically on organizational
commitment (Nahapiet and Goshal 1998).

The concept of organizational commitment

Organizational commitment is a concept that has been the subject of numerous
studies. It does not necessarily conform to a universal definition or means of
measurement (Meyer et al. 2001). Furthermore, other concepts, similar or connected,
may arise to cloud the understanding of organizational commitment. Certain authors
therefore warn against reducing commitment to terms such as ‘motivation’ or
‘attitudes’ (Brown 1996; Scholl 1981), suggesting rather that commitment influences
Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

the behaviour of individuals independently of their personal motivation and interests.

As a result of this, organizational commitment implies a major professional loyalty, as
well as a deep identification (Steinhaus and Perry 1996). Moreover, as we are reminded
by other literature, the concept of organizational commitment should be very reliable
as a way of measuring human behaviour in organized groups; more so in any case
than other theoretical constructs such as job satisfaction or job involvement (Jae
Moon 2000). Crewson (1997) furthermore presents a precise, clear definition of
organizational commitment, which he qualifies as being an individual identification
with and involvement in an organization. He emphasizes that it is made up of three
distinct factors – a strong belief in and acceptance of the organization’s values and
aims, a significant willingness to work hard for one’s organization and a desire to
remain a member of it. The other great advantage of the concept, as shown by
numerous research projects, is that it has a strong correlation with better
performance at work (Larson and Fukami 1984; Van Maanen 1975) and also has
a significant negative correlation with costly behaviour such as absenteeism, delays
and even turnover (Koch and Steers 1976).
Meyer and Allen have developed a model of commitment with three components,
which is widely known today (Allen and Meyer 1990; Meyer and Allen 1991, 1997)
and which forms the basis for a large number of empirical studies. Meyer and Allen
consider the three components of their commitment model as ‘mind sets’, which may
induce different attitudes and behaviour towards the organization. Thus, affective
commitment represents an emotional attachment to the organization, continuance
commitment refers back to the costs that may be incurred by the employee as a result
of a decision to leave the organization, and normative commitment represents the
feelings of obligation felt by an individual towards the organization (Meyer et al.
2001). The behavioural consequences of these three mind sets are identical: a
continuation of the employment relationship. For the purposes of our survey we
have adopted the Meyer and Allen model, for several reasons: the fact that this
model is currently very widespread and accepted in the scientific community, but also
because it continues to be widely relied upon in large-scale field research projects
(Meyer et al. 2001).

Human resource practices and hypotheses

Numerous research projects have shown the importance of the practices and
processes of human resource management on the behaviour and attitudes of
 190 D. Giauque et al.

employees (Arthur 1994; Huselid 1995). It therefore makes sense to find out by
means of a survey which ones are likely to develop a feeling of organizational
commitment among knowledge workers. Human resource management practices
may be classified by whether their objective relates to the control of employees or
their commitment (Walton 1985; Wood and de Menezes 1998). The HR approaches
centred on control are mainly aimed at increasing organizational efficiency while
reducing employment costs. They are based on strict rules and working procedures,
and financial rewards are based on the results obtained.
On the other hand, the approaches focusing on employee commitment are
aimed at developing organizational productivity and efficiency by implementing
working conditions that promote employees’ ability to identify with the
organizational objectives. The practices generally associated with this second
strategy include the evaluation of development, fair, competitive salaries and skills
Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

management together with continuing education (Whitener 2001). Moreover,

several surveys suggest that those organizations which have adopted HRM systems
that focus on commitment often obtain better production and financial results
(Delaney and Huselid 1996; Ichniowski, Shaw, and Prennushi 1997), while also
enabling the development of creativity and innovation within their structures
(Andriopoulos 2001; Jimenez-Jimenez and Sanz-Valle 2004). The conceptual
models of Lawler (1986) and Wils (1998) suggest that four processes or clusters
of practices within the field of strategic human resources management may increase
involvement and mobilization: information sharing, skills development, power
sharing and recognition systems.
The process of information sharing includes all the practices implemented by
organizations to disseminate and receive information, and therefore to support
decision-making. These practices appear to play two important roles: firstly,
employees will mobilize their skills and become more involved in their work if they
understand well what is expected of them. Secondly, employees will be even more
mobilized if they are under the impression that the organization is listening to their
concerns, their opinions, their recommendations and as a result, will make the effort
to respond adequately. For Campbell (2000), it is the informal participation of
employees that may make all the difference between the growth or decline of an
organization. According to this idea, the sharing of information, together with a
willingness to listen to employees before making decisions, will contribute to the
emergence of a climate of confidence and mutual respect, likely to support affective
attachment. The process of power sharing, or ‘empowerment’, takes place at the
decision-making level of the organization, where practices seek to ensure that
workers have control over their work (Leana and Florkowski 1992; Cook 1994;
Pfeffer and Veiga 1999). For the purposes of our survey, we have grouped the HR
practices in terms of the sharing of information and encouragement of participation
under the heading ‘decision-making’. These considerations lead us to define a first
working hypothesis.

Hypothesis 1: HR processes aimed at the decision-making process encourage the

development of organizational commitment.

The concept of skills management is central to any attempt to involve employees.

A willingness to develop skills, whether by means of training or other career
development activities, indicates to employees that the organization considers its
 Human Resource Development International 191

human capital to be a source of competitive advantage. According to Peter Drucker

(1999), company managers should consider knowledge workers as an asset, giving
them the opportunity to be innovative in their work by offering them continuing
professional education. The development and use of skills acquired on the one hand
reinforces confidence and the desire to establish long-term relations between
employees and the organization and on the other hand, encourages the growth of a
feeling of organizational support (Smith 1995). In other words, these practices forge
the perceived organizational support, which will then favour honesty between
knowledge workers and their organization. We have drawn a second work
hypothesis from the foregoing.

Hypothesis 2: Skills management activities aimed at enabling individual and collective

learning have a positive effect on the organizational commitment of employees.
Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

With regard to recognition systems, the equity theory of Adams (1965) teaches us
that employees compare their contributions, that is, their output, their effort, etc.,
with that which they have received from their employer (basic salary, merit pay
increase, individual performance bonus, collective performance bonus, etc.). Fair
procedures are therefore perceived as mechanisms that reinforce social cohesion and
show that employees are considered to be full members of the organization.
Numerous studies have shown the links that exist between the degree of employee
commitment and the perception they may have of the fairness of their companies’
practices and procedures (Folger and Konovsky 1989; Gopinath and Becker 2000;
Pillai et al. 1999). For the purposes of this survey we will call this HR dimension
‘procedural justice’.

Hypothesis 3: The perception of employees of the procedural justice of their

organization is closely linked to their organizational commitment.

In a survey carried out of 1689 employees of credit institutions, Ellen M.

Whitener also found a significant statistical relationship between the degree of
organizational commitment and employees’ perception of organizational support
(Whitener 2001). Positive experiences at work are important if one wishes to
develop organizational commitment. One of the principal mechanisms by which
these experiences of work lead to affective commitment is through a feeling of
being supported and valued, a feeling expressed by the concept of perceived
organizational support. This concept measures ‘employees global beliefs concerning
the extent to which the organization values their contributions and cares about
their well-being’ (Eisenberger et al. 1986, 500). Employees are grateful for the
support they receive, and respond to the favourable treatment they receive by
showing a stronger commitment to their employer. It is because perceived
organizational support leads to an increase in felt obligation and to consolidation
of the social exchange that it is linked to the commitment variable and, by
extension, to the intention to leave. This link has been established on several
occasions (Eisenberger et al. 1990, 2001; Hutchinson 1997; Shore and Tetrick 1991;
Shore and Wayne 1993).
Organizational support may take the form of allowing employees room to
manoeuvre when organizing their work, encouraging them to take initiatives or
offering them working conditions that enable them to reconcile their professional
 192 D. Giauque et al.

and family lives. Actively listening to employees’ preoccupations may also be

considered a form of support. For the purposes of our survey we will call this
dimension ‘organizational support’.

Hypothesis 4: The greater the positive perception by employees of organizational

support, the greater their organizational commitment.

We will add a further dimension to our consideration of human resources

practices – a dimension that is not often taken into account in surveys, but which we
consider to be important in the process of retention of knowledge workers.
Employees not only react to HR tools and practices, but are also interested in
evolving within an organization that has a good image. To explain that, specialists
use the concept of perceived external prestige, which has been defined as the manner
Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

in which a member of an organization interprets and evaluates the reputation of his

organization (Mael and Ashforth 1992). Associated with the theory of social
identity, the perceived external prestige gives the employee a status that allows him
to define himself as a member of his organization, profession, and enhancing his self-
esteem through a valued identity belonging.
Although the concept of prestige does not come directly from the same
theoretical framework as commitment, the link between the two concepts is
altogether obvious. Indeed, for Meyer and Allen (1991) the affective dimension of
commitment can be defined, something else again, as an identification towards the
organization. The perceived external prestige, which is a previous history of
identification with the company (Smidts, Pruyn, and Van Riel 2001), is thus a
potentially valuable source of commitment, especially among young professionals
who are sensitive to the image of their company. The knowledge workers, very
mobile and anxious to retain an important employability, will therefore invest more
sustainably in a prestigious organization rather than in an organization that does not
enjoy a positive image.

Hypothesis 5: The better and wider the reputation of the organization, the more
knowledge workers will show organizational commitment.

Finally, so as not to miss out an important factor, we believe that salary probably
has an effect on the degree of commitment of knowledge workers. As some studies
have already shown (Arthur 1994; Tan and Igbaria 1994; Huselid 1995; Beson and
Brown 2007; Williams et al. 2007), the involvement of knowledge workers is
influenced by organizational stimuli, and particularly by the salary. Thus, we can say
that reward influences the organizational commitment. Staying in an organization
can be partly explained by a positive perception of organizational justice, namely an
adequacy between the components of the compensation (salary, wage structure,
social benefits) and the system of compensation’s management.
According to Thompson and Heron (2005) knowledge workers receive their
salary in a specific manner compared with other categories of employees. Indeed,
they assess their level of pay compensation to their specific profile (highly educated
level, belonging to the elite, providing of a strong added value to the company).
Therefore they expect from their employer a different salary from the rest of the staff
(Dickinson 2006). Therefore meeting this expectation will result in a positive
perception of the pay’s system and consequently act positively on organizational
 Human Resource Development International 193

commitment (Thompson and Heron 2005; Williams et al. 2007). We are able to
formulate our last hypothesis.

Hypothesis 6: Employee satisfaction with remuneration is linked to the degree of

organizational commitment.

Methods
Sample and procedure
Our quantitative research, on the basis of a self-administered questionnaire, includes
knowledge workers in small-to-medium enterprises in French-speaking Switzerland.
We had to deal with a sampling problem specific to our population. Due to the fact
that the number and geographical location of knowledge workers were unknown to
Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

us, we were unable to formulate a probability sample of our reference population.

We therefore opted for a non-probability approach, formulating a convenience
sample. In order to do this, we selected those companies whose activities were
oriented towards innovation and the provision of high added-value service. This
selection was made on the basis of an exhaustive list of enterprises whose research
and service activities are carried out in the French-speaking cantons of Switzerland.
Once the selections had been made, we sent the human resources departments of
these companies an e-mail explaining to them our approach and the objective of our
research. In this e-mail, we specified what we understood as ‘knowledge workers’,
providing them with our selection criteria. Finally, we asked them to select from
within their enterprise the employees who satisfied these criteria and to forward our
on-line questionnaire to them. This approach, while the most rational in terms of
human and financial costs, unfortunately does not allow us to make definitive
statements on the basis of our results, nor to use them to generalize for the whole
reference population.
Of the 50 businesses contacted, 30 agreed to forward our questionnaire to their
employees. Of around 500 questionnaires sent, we received 198 back, representing a
return rate of around 40%. It should be emphasized here that the businesses we
approached are small-to-medium enterprises comprising between 10 and 50
employees. This explains the relatively low number of responses, although one
which is nevertheless representative, at least at the Swiss level. 65% of the
respondents were men, and 35% women. The age range of the knowledge workers
who responded to our questionnaire was between 26 and 45. 80.2% of them held a
higher education qualification (Federal Institute of Technology, University, or
University of Applied Sciences). The three main sectors of activity represented are:
information technology (16.8%), industry and crafts (16.8%), finance and
accounting (14.2%). Finally, the geographical distribution of knowledge workers
by French-speaking Swiss canton is: Valais (35.2%), Neuchâtel (21.9%), Vaud
(18.4%), Jura (8.2%), Geneva (3.1%), and Fribourg (2%).

Instruments
Table 1 provides an overview of the concepts and measures that we employ. The
dependent variable, organizational commitment, is measured through the scale
developed by Meyer, Allen, and Smith (1993). This scale aims to measure the three
dimensions of the organizational commitment concept. This measurement scale
 Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

194

Table 1. Variables, items, Cronbach’s alpha and results of the principal component analysis for each variable.

Results of the principal component

analysis
Cronbach’s alpha Percentage of the Factor loadings
Variables Items developed for the scale variation explained for each item
D. Giauque et al.

Decision-making 1. The sharing of information within my organisation is well- .833 75.042% .605
developed
2. My organisation allows me to participate in the decision- .835
making process
3. My organisation supports and promotes decision-making .811
autonomy among its employees
Skills management 1. In my organisation, errors are used to understand and .791 55.609% .533
improve
2. My job specification corresponds to the actual tasks I .440
undertake
3. I have the option of undertaking continuing education .396
courses within my organisation
4. My organisation cares about my professional development .761
5. I have the opportunity to use my skills within my .650
organisation
Procedural justice 1. I believe that my organisation’s pay policy is equitable .908 84.502% .819
2. I have the overall impression that my organisation treats all .871
employees in an equal manner
3. Promotions are decided on an equitable basis within my .845
organisation

(continued)
 Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

Table 1. (Continued).
Results of the principal component
analysis
Cronbach’s alpha Percentage of the Factor loadings
Variables Items developed for the scale variation explained for each item
Organisational support 1. My working conditions (working hours, place of work, .847 62.677% .315
working methods, etc.) enable me to balance my private and
professional life
2. I feel that I am given support and consideration within my .803
organisation
3. I am given sufficient room for manoeuvre to carry out my .632
duties within my organisation
4. My organisation listens to my concerns and my opinions .735
5. My organisation encourages me to take initiatives .649
Organisational reputation 1. Being a member of my organisation increases my self-esteem .845 76.423% .800
2. My organisation enjoys a good image and a good reputation .645
3. Working in my organisation is rewarding .847
Affective organisational 1. I would be quite willing to spend the rest of my working life in .931 78.920% .637
commitment this organisation.
2. I really feel as if the organisation’s problem’s were my own .752
3. I consider myself to be a ‘‘member of the family’’ in this .838
organisation
4. I feel that I am emotionally attached to my organisation .845
5. I feel a strong sense of belonging to this organisation .874
Normative organisational 1. Even if it were to my advantage, I would not feel entitled to .906 68.854% .836
commitment leave my organisation now
2. I would feel guilty if I were to leave my organisation now. .830
3. I owe a great deal to my organisation .400
Continuance organisational 1. It would be very difficult for me to leave this organisation at .697 76.783% .768
commitment the moment, even if I wanted to
Human Resource Development International

2. A lot of things in my life would be disrupted if I decided to .768

leave this organisation now
195
 196 D. Giauque et al.

consists of 18 items, testing the three facets of organizational commitment – affective

commitment (six items), continuance commitment (six items) and normative
commitment (six items). We have selected some of these items, replacing the term
‘enterprise’ with ‘organization’ and formulating them in positive terms (see Table 1
regarding the items used in this study).
Furthermore, in order to measure human resource management practices we
have formulated some new items based upon exploratory interviews. Some
exploratory interviews confirmed to us that the measurement scales already tested
and formulated during previous research were not appropriate. Human resource
management is a very contextual activity, as it involves the implementation of
practices and tools that are sensitive to environment. An SME is not managed in the
same way as a large international or multinational enterprise. We therefore decided
to formulate our own items for the measurement of employee perceptions of the HR
Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

practices and strategies of their organization. All our items have been formulated in
positive terms, and our respondents were asked to evaluate them on a scale of one to
six, from ‘do not agree at all’ to ‘totally agree’.
Moreover, we developed an item to measure the degree of satisfaction with pay,
corresponding to the following statement: ‘I am well-paid by my employer’. Our
measurement scales are reliable, the Cronbach’s Alphas showing values that are
very widely acceptable in this type of statistical survey. Moreover, in order to
assess the reliability of our variables a principal component analysis has been used.
This statistical procedure confirms that our variables are one-dimensional and the
items used explained a very large percentage of the variation of each variable (see
Table 1 for more details). Finally, it should be noted that we have introduced
control variables to our analysis model as we have tested the influence of age, sex,
education, the position in the organization and seniority on our independent
variables.

Analysis
We undertook two stages using the SPSS 17 statistical software. First of all we
undertook binary correlations between our different variables in order to evaluate
the intensity of the relations between our different variables (cf. Table 2 on the
correlations) and to assess the possibility of multicollinearity among our study’s
variables. All of the bivariate correlations are statistically significant and the
measures appear to have discriminant validity, as the largest correlation is less than
0.85 (John and Benet-Martinez 2000). That said, one may notice that correlations
between the six HRM practices predictors are very high (.40 5 r 5 .78). This fact
may suggest a possibility of multicollinearity among these six predictors. The used
one-sided methodology using a self-report questionnaire at a specific time can result
in a common-method bias, since correlations arise due to hidden, systematic features
that support the measured variables (Spector 1994). This can be considered as a
limitation in the context of this research.
A second stage involved carrying out a multiple linear regression in which our
dependent variables, i.e. affective, normative and continuance organizational
commitment, were regressed against all of our independent variables, i.e. our
various human resource management dimensions (cf. Table 3). This multivariable
technique is the one most commonly used to predict and explain. We can therefore
use it to determine the relative importance of each of our independent variables.
 Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

Table 2. The means, standard deviation (SD), correlations and Cronbach alphas for the variables.

Variables Mean SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
Affective 3.76 1.25 (.93)
commitment
Normative 2.89 1.26 .531** (.90)
commitment
Continuance 3.13 1.08 .275** .435** (.68)
commitment
Organisational 4.40 .96 .641** .329** 0.085 (.85)
support
Skills 4.22 .99 .583** .313** 0.037 .769** (.79)
management
Procedural 3.89 1.29 .602** .328** 0.065 .709** .678** (.91)
justice
Organisational 4.39 .98 .685** .336** 0.118 .729** .643** .640** (.85)
reputation
Decision-making 3.88 1.20 .552** .329** 0.034 .780** .760** .655** .641** (.83)
Remuneration 4.21 1.26 .513** .350** 0.056 .500** .438** .658** .520** .395**
Age 3.87 1.69 .282** 0.089 .144* 0.081 0.092 0.137 .179* 0.044 .211**
Gender 1.65 .48 0.066 0.093 70.045 0.065 0.070 0.086 70.001 0.094 0.026 0.059
Highest-level 3.90 1.26 0.051 70.005 70.080 0.040 0.068 70.021 70.056 0.065 70.058 70.052 0.082
qualification
Position in the 3.11 1.12 .386** .203** 0.072 .310** .327** .367** .375** .406** .235** .360** 0.107 70.007
organisation
Seniority within 4.42 1.40 .301** 0.024 .210** 0.078 0.123 0.130 0.101 0.059 0.105 .498** 0.085 70.038 .274**
the organisation

**The correlation is significant to a level of 0.01 (bilateral).

Human Resource Development International

*The correlation is significant to a level of 0.05 (bilateral).

197
 Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

198

Table 3. Results of the multiple linear regressions on the dependent variables (affective commitment; normative commitment; continuance commitment).

Affective commitment Normative commitment Continuance commitment

D. Giauque et al.

Independent variables B Standard error Beta B Standard error Beta B Standard error Beta
Organisational support .279 .130 .221* 7.013 .195 7.009 .048 .201 .036
Skills management .009 .131 .007 7.104 .197 7.077 7.153 .203 7.117
Procedural justice .156 .073 .166* .178 .110 .173 .037 .113 .037
Reputation of the organisation .365 .103 .291** .098 .154 .072 .195 .159 .147
Decision-making 7.005 .098 7.005 .245 .148 .220 7.042 .152 7.039
Remuneration .095 .087 .093 .123 .130 .111 .132 .134 .123
Age .029 .026 .040 7.021 .069 7.027 7.016 .071 7.021
Gender 7.048 .132 7.019 .073 .197 .027 7.241 .202 7.090
Highest-level qualification .054 .051 .055 .026 .077 .024 7.053 .079 7.050
Position in the organisation .050 .069 .045 .043 .104 .035 .054 .107 .046
Seniority within the organisation .166 .054 .194** 7.018 .080 7.020 .149 .083 .165
R2 adjusted .545 .140 .026
F 20.165 3.613 1.432
Significance .000 .000 .163

*Significant to a level of .05.

**Significant to a level of .001.
 Human Resource Development International 199

The method of selection of the regression variables used in our research is ‘block
entry’, that is, all the variables are entered in a single operation. Certain variables
have been created on the basis of several items. In these cases, a reliability test has
been applied to these scales by means of the Cronbach’s Alpha (see Table 1). Three
dependent variables concerning organizational commitment have also been created
on the basis of the items developed by Meyer, Allen, and Smith (1993). It can be seen
that the reliability test for the scales shows good to very good values for two
variables and acceptable for the continuance (or calculated) organizational
commitment variable (see Table 1). Within the scope of our multiple linear
regressions, we have carried out a series of statistical tests to make sure of the
validity of our data. In order to detect the risk of excessive correlation between
independent variables we undertook collinearity tests (tolerance and VIF tests).
Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

Results
Table 2 shows the various bivariable correlations undertaken on the results of our
sample. As can be seen from Table 2, all our six HR practices have a significant
correlation to a level of 0.05 (bilateral) with two of our dependent variables. These
are the affective and normative organizational commitment types. On the other
hand, continuance organizational commitment does not have significant relations
with our independent variables, apart from age (the correlation is significant to a
level of 0.01) and seniority (the correlation is significant to a level of 0.05) within the
organization. A paradox, which is not in fact one, may seem apparent on reading
this first table. The fact that age and seniority are correlated with two of our three
dependent variables (affective and continuance commitment) raises questions. It
signifies that age and longevity of employment has as much of an effect on the
integration of the organizational values by individuals as on their feelings of ‘duty’
towards it. It seems evident here that the costs of a professional change may appear
high after a long period of organizational loyalty, and the same applies when the
employee is older and therefore less ‘employable’.
Table 3 indicates that the HR practices and strategies tested in our study only
have a significant impact on affective organizational commitment (R2 adjusted is
.545). The regressions applied do not indicate a significant link with the two other
types of commitment. Moreover, only those practices considered ‘organizational
support’ (Beta is significant to a level of 0.05), ‘procedural justice’ (Beta .166 is
significant .221 to a level of 0.05), as well as the perception of the organizational
reputation (Beta .291 is significant to a level of 0.001), seem to have strong relations
to affective organizational commitment. Therefore, our findings give clear support to
hypotheses 3, 4, and 5, whereas no clear evidence may contribute to support
hypotheses 1, 2, and 6. According to this study, respondents’ commitment
principally depends on HR practices which may contribute to increase trust between
the two parties (employees and organization). Respondents are more likely to stay in
their organization if they believe they are treated fairly, they are supported in their
efforts, and they work for an organization benefiting of a good image and
reputation.
Apart from this, we would point out that only the regression model integrating
affective commitment as a dependent variable appears to maintain an explanatory
validity to the extent that 54.5% of the variance in affective commitment is explained
by all of our dependent variables. This explanatory percentage is reduced to 14%
 200 D. Giauque et al.

and 2.6% for the regression models that include normative commitment and
continuance commitment as dependent variables.

Discussion and implications of the study

This study makes several contributions to the literature. First, the initial finding is
that HR practices may indeed have an impact on the organizational commitment of
knowledge workers. Therefore, this study confirms previous research having
demonstrated that firms which deploy a HRM system characterized by high
performance work practices were found to have a significant and direct effect on
employee commitment (Taylor et al. 2008; Whitener 2001). Human resource
management should therefore be taken seriously in small-to-medium enterprises,
especially if they wish to retain their high value-added workforce. But human
Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

resource management is often underdeveloped in small structures, either because

there is no dedicated HRM department, or because the person responsible is not
trained in HRM. Furthermore, there is a far greater degree of informality in
employment practices in SMEs than in larger workplaces (Bacon and Hoque 2005),
and HRM at SMEs is limited to its most simple form: continuing education and
remuneration. These two practices, however important they may seem, are not the
ones which can ensure long-term organizational commitment according to this
study.
As can be seen from Table 3 above, the affective organizational commitment of
knowledge workers depends on the support practices developed by their organiza-
tion, on their perception as regards procedural justice, and also on the reputation of
the organization and the seniority of the employees. Support practices are all those
management activities which give employees significant room to manoeuvre in
organizing their private and professional lives, enabling them to undertake their
duties efficiently within an organizational context that promotes initiative-taking and
listening. Support corresponds to implementing minimal organizational conditions
with a view to enabling knowledge workers to achieve fulfilment. In this sense, this
study underlines the importance of HRM practices focusing on employee
development. In the precise context of our study organizational support mainly
consists in implementing flexible working conditions, giving room for manoeuvre to
the employees, in facilitating their initiatives and in listening to them. In this respect,
the results of this study confirm the conclusions of previous research (Barnard and
Rodgers 2000).
Procedural justice is concerned with the equity and equality of treatment
perceived by employees within their organization. Thus it seems reasonable that the
definition of clear rules, which employees consider to be legitimate and which thus
provide a degree of ‘justice’ in the treatment of individuals, may help to develop
commitment among employees. Tzafrir (2005) in his study aiming to investigate the
relationship between trust, HRM practices and firm performance, has demonstrated
that HRM practices mediate the impact of trust in organizations. Our own study
shows that the individual perception of procedural justice may shape the employees’
commitment. In other words, future research must clearly investigate further the
importance of trust in the commitment strategies deployed by SMEs in order to
retain their workforce, more specifically knowledge workers.
We would have imagined, especially within the scope of this research, that
remuneration would represent a major asset that SMEs could use to attract
 Human Resource Development International 201

knowledge workers. But our survey indicates that this is not the case. We are
therefore unable to confirm the results of other studies which indicate that
remuneration is central to the development of a feeling of commitment within
organizations.
The results of our survey also bring some challenging news to small-to-medium
enterprises, as the determining factor of organizational commitment is the reputation
of the organization. The very fact of working for the organization should give
employees a certain feeling of pride. Therefore, the image of the organization to
which they currently belong plays a major part in the degree of commitment
employees feel towards their company. Consequently, one may be led to formulate
the following hypothesis: the higher the reputation of an organization at a national
and international level, the more the organization may benefit from a competitive
advantage in recruiting and retaining knowledge workers. This result may also
Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

indicate that knowledge workers should be able to identify with the values
communicated to others by their organization. This shows the importance of internal
and external communication in organizational positioning strategies, and also
indicates that knowledge workers are concerned about their own reputation on the
employment market. An organization with a good reputation is clearly easier to refer
to and use to good effect in a professional career path. With respect to this
‘reputational’ dimension one may clearly notice a lack of recent studies focusing on
this subject. Therefore, future research must be undertaken regarding this issue.
Concerning now a more theoretical aspect, this study demonstrates the
importance of the social exchange theory (Whitener et al. 1998). This social
exchange theory assumes that trust, or even commitment and involvement, emerge
through the repeated exchange of benefits between two parties. Social exchange is
based on the norm of reciprocity. ‘This norm establishes the expectations that
recognition, empowerment, investment in human assets, and other favours, will be
returned. (. . .) Social exchange emphasises relationship development over time, and
indicates that a successful social exchange circle involves trust and uncertainty.
Social exchange behaviour generates an expectation of some future return of Joint
improvement and positive contribution to the relationship’ (Tzafrir 2005, 1601). The
organizational commitment of the knowledge workers can be thus considered as an
exchange. This commitment comes true within the framework of a reliable relation,
which necessitates some time to happen.
With respect to what has just been said, we note, in this study, the importance of
seniority in the process of organizational commitment. The longer the working
relationship between the organization and its employees, the greater the affective
commitment of its workers. In terms of company strategies, the retention of staff
therefore seems to represent a virtuous circle, as the longer the period of employment
of knowledge workers within an organization, the more they feel an affective
commitment towards it. This result proves that a high turnover may be considered
an indicator of employee ‘disengagement’. As a result, SMEs have an interest in
prioritising long-term HRM strategies and avoiding the practices of workforce
adjustments which are often used to cope with urgent situations.
Like all studies in the field of social sciences, this one contains inherent
limitations relating to the methodological and conceptual choices made. While a
cluster of serious indicators indicates that certain HRM tools affect the organiza-
tional commitment of knowledge workers, there are probably other variables, not
taken into account in this research, which may have an equally significant influence
 202 D. Giauque et al.

on the degree of organizational commitment (for example, pride of belonging,

organizational values, the P-O fit, etc.). All this means that it is not possible for us to
confirm without reservation that it is primarily HRM practices, at least those which
we have identified, that explain organizational commitment.

References
Adams, J. 1965. Inequity in social exchange. In Advance in experimental social psychology 2,
ed. L. Berkowitz, 267–99. New York: Academic Press.
Allen, N.J., and J.P. Meyer. 1990. The measurement and antecedents of affective, continuance,
and normative commitment to the organization. Journal of Occupational Psychology 63: 1–18.
Alvesson, M. 2001. Knowledge work: Ambiguity, image and identity. Human Relations 54:
863–86.
Alvesson, M. 2004. Knowledge work and knowledge-intensive firms. Oxford: Oxford University
Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

Press.
Andriopoulos, C. 2001. Determinants of organizational creativity: A literature review.
Management Decision 39: 834–40.
Arthur, J.B. 1994. Effects of human resource systems on manufacturing performance and
turnover. Academy of Management Journal 37: 670–87.
Bacon, N., and K. Hoque. 2005. HRM in the SME sector: Valuable employees and coercive
networks. International Journal of Human Resource Management 16: 1976–99.
Barnard, M.E., and R.A. Rodgers. 2000. How are internally oriented HRM policies related to
high-performance work practices? Evidence from Singapore. The International Journal of
Human Resource Management 11: 1017–46.
Baugh, S., and R. Roberts. 1994. Professional and organizational commitment among
engineers: Conflicting or compensating? IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management
41, no. 2: 108–14.
Becker, T.E. 1992. Foci and bases of commitment: Are they distinctions worth making?
Academy of Management Journal 35: 464–82.
Beson, J., and M. Brown. 2007. Knowledge workers: What keeps them committed, what turns
them away. Work, Employment & Society 21, no. 1: 121–41.
Brinkley, I. 2008. The knowledge economy: How knowledge is reshaping the economic life of
nations. London: The Work Foundation.
Brown, R.B. 1996. Organizational commitment: Clarifying the concept and simplifying the
existing construct typology. Journal of Vocational Behavior 49: 230–51.
Bück, J.-Y. 1999. Le management des connaissances: Mettre en œuvre un projet de Knowledge
management. Paris: Editions d’Organization.
Campbell, D.J. 2000. The proactive employee. Academy Management Executive 14, no. 3: 52–
66.
Campion, M.A., and R.G. Lord. 1982. A control systems conceptualization of the goal-setting
and changing process. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance 30: 265–87.
Cook, P. 1996. The industrial craftsworker: Skill, managerial strategies and workplace
relationships. London: Mansell.
Cook, W. 1994. Employee participation programs, group-based incentives, and company
performance: A union-non-union comparison. Industrial and Labour Relations Review 47,
no. 4: 594–609.
Crewson, P. 1997. Public service motivation: Building empirical evidence of incidence and
effect. Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory 7: 499–518.
Davenport, T.H. 2005. Thinking for a living: How to get better performance and results from
knowledge workers. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Publishing.
Delaney, J.T., and M.A. Huselid. 1996. The impact of human resource management practices
on perceptions of organizational performance. Academy of Management Journal 39: 949–
69.
Dickinson, J. 2006. Employees performances for the bases of pay differentials. Employee
Relations 28, no. 2: 164–83.
Donnelly, R. 2009. The knowledge economy and the restructuring of employment: The case of
consultants. Work, employment and society 23, no. 2: 323–41.
 Human Resource Development International 203

Drucker, P. 1999. Knowledge-worker productivity: The biggest challenge. California

Management Review 41, no. 2: 79–94.
Eisenberger, R., R. Huntington, S. Hutchinson, and D. Sowa. 1986. Perceived organizational
support. Journal of Applied Psychology 71: 500–7.
Eisenberger, R., P. Fasolo, and V. Davis-LaMastro. 1990. Perceived organizational support and
employee diligence, commitment, and innovation. Journal of Applied Psychology 75: 51–9.
Eisenberger, R., S. Armeli, B. Rexwinkel, P. Lynch, and L. Rhoades. 2001. Reciprocation of
perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology 86, no. 1: 42–51.
Folger, R., and M. Konovsky. 1989. Effects of procedural and distributive justice on reactions
to pay raise decisions. Academy of Management Journal 32: 115–30.
Frenkel, S., M. Korczynski, K. Shire, and M. Tam. 1999. On the front line. Organization of
work in the information economy. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
Golhar, D.Y., and S.P. Deshpande. 1997. HRM practices in large and small Canadian firms.
Journal of Small Business Management 35: 30–8.
Gopinath, C., and T.E. Becker. 2000. Communication, procedural justice, and employee
Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

attitudes: Relationships under conditions of divestiture. Journal of Management 26: 63–83.

Gordon, M.E., J.W. Philpot, R.E. Burt, C.A. Thompson, and W.E. Spiller. 1980.
Commitment to the union: Development of a measure and an examination of its
correlates. Journal of Applied Psychology 65: 479–99.
Gvaramadze, I. 2008. Human resource development practice: the paradox of empowerment
and individualization. Human Resource Development International 11, no. 5: 465–77.
Hall, D., ed. 1996. Protean careers of the 21st century (special issue). Academy of Management
Executive 10, no. 4: 8–16.
Hamel, G., and C.K. Prahalad. 1990. The core competence of the corporation. Harvard
Business Review 3: 79–91.
Hislop, D. 2003. Linking human resource management and knowledge management via
commitment: a review and research agenda. Employee Relations 25, no. 2: 182–202.
Hornsby, J., and D. Kuratko. 2003. Human resource management in US small businesses: A
replication and extension. Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship 8: 73–92.
Hunt, S.D., and R.M. Morgan. 1994. Organizational commitment: One of many
commitments or key mediating construct? Academy of Management Journal 37: 1568–87.
Huselid, M.A. 1995. The impact of human resource management practices on turnover,
productivity, and corporate financial performance. Academy of Management Journal 38: 635–
72.
Hutchinson, S. 1997. A path model of perceived organizational support. Journal of Social
Behavior and Personality 12: 159–74.
Ichniowski, C., K. Shaw, and G. Prennushi. 1997. The effects of human resource management
practices on productivity. American Economic Review 87: 291–313.
Ito, J.K., and C.M. Brotheridge. 2005. Does supporting employees’ career adaptability lead to
commitment or turnover or both? Human Resource Management 44: 5–19.
Jae Moon, M. 2000. Organizational commitment revisited in new public management. Public
Performance & Management Review 24: 177–94.
Jimenez-Jimenez, D., and R. Sanz-Valle. 2005. Innovation and human resource management
fit: An empirical study. International Journal of Manpower 26, no. 4: 364–381.
John, O.P., and V. Benet-Martinez. 2000. Measurement: Reliability, construct validation, and
scale construction. In Handbook of research methods in social psychology, ed. H.T. Reis
and C.M. Judd, 339–69. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Knell, J. 2000. The quiet birth of the free worker. London: The Work Foundation.
Koch, J.L., and R.M. Steers. 1976. Job attachment, satisfaction, and turnover among public
employees. Office of Naval Research: University of Oregon, Technical Report, no. 6.
Larson, E.W., and C.V. Fukami. 1984. Relationships between worker behavior and
commitment to the organization and union. Paper presented at the annual meeting of
the Academy of Management, in Boston, USA.
Laursen, E. 2005. Knowledge, progression and the understanding of workplace learning. In
Mapping the terrain of working life learning, ed. E. Antonacopoulou, P. Jarvis, V.
Andersen, B. Elkjaer, and S. Hyrup, 69–84. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
Lawler, E.E. 1986. High-involvement management: Participative strategies for improving
organizational performance. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.
 204 D. Giauque et al.

Leana, C., and G. Florkowski. 1992. Employee involvement programs: Integrating

psychological theory and management practice. Research in Personnel and Human
Resources Management 10: 233–70.
Leana, C.R., and D.M. Rousseau. 2000. Relational wealth: The advantages of stability in a
changing economy. Oxford: OUP.
Locke, E.A., G.P. Latham, and M. Erez. 1988. The determinants of goal commitment.
Academy of Management Review 13: 23–39.
Mael, F., and B.E. Ashforth. 1992. Alumni and their alma mater: A partial test of the
reformulated model of organizational identification. Journal of Organizational Behavior
13, no. 2: 103–23.
Meyer, J.P., and N.J. Allen. 1991. A three-component conceptualization of organizational
commitment. Human Resource Management Review 1: 61–89.
Meyer, J.P., N.J. Allen, and C.A. Smith. 1993. Commitment to the organizations and
occupations: Extension and test of three-component conceptualization. Journal of Applied
Psychology 78: 538–51.
Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

Meyer, J.P., and N.J. Allen. 1997. Commitment in the workplace: Theory, research, and
application. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Meyer, J.P., D.J. Stanley, L. Herscovitch, and L. Topolnytsky. 2001. Affective, continuance,
and normative commitment to the organization: A meta-analysis of antecedents,
correlates, and consequences. Journal of Vocational Behavior 61: 20–52.
Nahapiet, J., and S. Goshal. 1998. Social capital, intellectual capital, and the organizational
advantage. Academy of Management Journal 23: 242–66.
Peirce, J. 1999. Gérer les travailleurs du savoir ou comment tirer parti du capital intellectuel.
Bulletin du CRDI, 15 Novembre.
Pfeffer, J., and F. Veiga. 1999. Putting people first for organizational success. Academy of
Management Executive 13, no. 2: 37–48.
Pillai, R., C.A. Schriesheim, and E.S. Williams. 1999. Fairness perceptions and trust as
mediators for transformational and transactional leadership: A two-sample study. Journal
of Management 25: 897–933.
Pink, D. 2001. Free agent nation. New York: Warner Business.
Reed, M. 1996. Expert power and control in late modernity. Organization Studies 17, no. 4:
573–97.
Scholl, R.W. 1981. Differentiating commitment from expectancy as a motivating force.
Academy of Management Review 6: 589–99.
Shore, L., and L. Tetrick. 1991. A construct validity study of the survey of perceived
organizational support. Journal of Applied Psychology 76: 637–43.
Shore, L., and S. Wayne. 1993. Commitment and employee behavior: Comparison of affective
and continuance commitment with perceived organizational support. Journal of Applied
Psychology 78: 774–80.
Smidts, A., A.T.H. Pruyn, and C.B.M. Van Riel. 2001. The impact of employee
communication and perceived external prestige on organizational identification. Academy
of Management Journal 49, no. 5: 1051–62.
Smith, C.A. 1995. Human resource practices and policies as antecedents of organizational
commitment. PhD diss., Western University.
Spector, P.E. 1994. Using self-report questionnaires in OB research: A comment on the use of
a controversial method. Journal of Organizational Behavior 15: 385–92.
Steinhaus, C., and J. Perry. 1996. Organizational commitment: Does sector matter. Public
Productivity & Management Review 19: 278–88.
Storey, J. 2001. Human resource management: A critical text. London: Thomson Learning.
Tan, M., and M. Igbaria. 1994. Turnover and remuneration of information technology
professionals in Singapore. Information and Management 26, no. 4: 219–29.
Taylor, S., O. Levy, N.A. Boyacigiller, and S. Beechler. 2008. Employee commitment in
MNCs: Impacts of organizational culture, HRM and top management orientations. The
International Journal of Human Resource Management 19: 501–27.
Thompson, M., and P. Heron. 2005. The difference a manager can make: Organizational
justice and knowledge worker commitment. The international Journal of Human Resource
Management 16, no. 3: 383–404.
 Human Resource Development International 205

Tzafrir, S.S. 2005. The relationship between trust, HRM practices and firm performance.
International Journal of Human Resource Management 16: 1600–22.
Van Maanen, J. 1975. Police socialization: A longitudinal examination of job attitudes in an
urban police department. Administration Science Quarterly 20: 207–28.
Walton, R.E. 1985. From control to commitment in the workplace. Harvard Business Review
63, no. 2: 77–84.
Whitener, E.M., S.E. Brodt, M.A. Korsgaard, and J.M. Werner. 1998. Managers as initiators
of trust: An exchange relationship framework for understanding managerial trustworthy
behavior. Academy of Management Review 23: 513–30.
Whitener, E.M. 2001. Do ‘‘high commitment’’ human resource practices affect employee
commitment? A cross-level analysis using hierarchical linear modeling. Journal of
Management 27: 515–35.
Williams, M.L., M.A. Mc Daniel, and L.R. Ford. 2007. Understanding multiple dimensions
of compensation satisfaction. Journal of Business and Psychology 21, no. 3: 429–59.
Wils, T. 1998. Qu’est-ce que la mobilization des employés ? Le point de vue des professionnels
Downloaded by [University of South Carolina ] at 16:14 18 July 2013

en ressources humaines. Gestion 23, no. 2: 573–85.

Wood, S., and L. de Menezes. 1998. High commitment management in the UK: Evidence
from the Workplace Industrial Relations Survey And Employers’ Manpower and Skills
Practices Survey. Human Relations 51: 485–15.
Zheng, C., M. Morrison, and G. O’Neill. 2006. An empirical study of high performance HRM
practices in Chinese SMEs. International Journal of Human Resource Management 17:
1772–1803.